NITDA Cautions Facebook Users Against New Malware Attack
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has Nigerians to be mindful of a new malicious malware ‘OV3R_Stealer’, aimed at attacking Facebook users. This is contained in an advisory released in Abuja on Monday by the agency’s Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs Hadiza Umar.
“A new threat, known as Ov3R_Stealer malware, has emerged, targeting users on Facebook, spreading through deceptive job advertisement and fake accounts. Users become infected by clicking on these malicious advertisement links.
“The malware employs various execution methods to extract sensitive data from victims,” a NITDA spokesperson said. According to her, the Ov3R_Stealer malware can also be used as a dropper for other malware, including ransomware.
Umar said, “When users click on the advertisement, they will be redirected to a malicious discord URL which executes the malware through a PowerShell script.” Umar said the Powershell masquerades as a Windows Control Panel(CPL) file to download the malware payload from a GitHub repository.
“Ov3r_Stealer poses a significant risk by silently exfiltration a wide range of personal and sensitive information including geo-location (based on IP), hardware info, passwords, cookies, and credit card, among others.
“This data is subsequently transmitted to a telegram channel where it is possibly sold or used for phishing attacks. There is a need to ensure that users’ software is always updated, and avoid clicking on advertisement links, especially on social media platforms. Ensure your system antivirus are updated regularly and stay updated on new and evolving threats,” she said.
Tech experts urge Nigerians to leverage on AI
Tech experts, on Monday, called on Nigerians to leverage on Artificial Intelligence (AI), for easier life. Mr Justin Nwosu Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Binnox and Mr Michael Nwankwo, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Binnox, who developed the Binnox App, made the call at the launch of the Binnox app in Abuja.
They explained that the Binnox app was created to bridge the gap between customers and business owners as well as facilitate trade and customer satisfaction while also connecting people to local businesses to be able to buy things. According to Nwosu, the Binnox App is an AI driven delivery platform that connects people to businesses around their localities to buy things with ease.
“Information Communication Technology (ICT) has come to stay for years now and is actually growing without bounds. This means that in the nearest future, everything is going to be technology driven, so this is the best time to start leveraging AI in our day to day life.
“For those people who are also skeptical about using online platforms, you just have to start using it because you wouldn’t want to stress too much. For a platform like ours which provides security for you and your product as well as the worth of your money back to you. I think it is time to jump on it.
“For example, you can buy food and groceries from your home and visit local markets from your home, without having to step out.’’ According to him, beyond that, issue of trust is an extra problem as Africans rarely have trust to buy things online.
“I mean, how can we really say this is what I want and exactly what we get? What we did was to build an AI that essentially also helps to check the behavioural pattern of these businesses and riders to make sure these people are perfect and in the best conditions to actually give you what you want.
“So, this means that our AI actually vets businesses and vets riders to actually give you the trust as a customer and the trust you actually paid for before you get the product,’’ he said. Nwosu also said that the group created a simple solution to help businesses sell as it was basically a third party system.
“We do not own the businesses; we do not own the product. We are actually not e-commerce. We are a delivery platform. But we have e-commerce systems for businesses.
“What differentiates us is that you are not buying from us or someone you are waiting for in Lagos for three days. We have couple of competitors and the market is still very new in Africa.
“We have few competitors, but what separate us is the tools we are building with AI to actually enable demand and supply to be more secured,’’ Nwosu said According to him, Binnox has contributed to the nation’s economy by adding financial value to businesses and reducing unemployment through the employment of youths.
He called on the government to support young entrepreneurs with funding to develop businesses. Similarly, Nwankwo, said that one of the most interesting technologies used on Binnox was the socket IO that enables the relationship from customers to business owners and the riders work seamlessly and immediately.
Nwankwo called on the government to create enabling environment for youths to do business, not just in infrastructure, but also in economic policies. “We need more grants and we need more investment opportunities. We need the government to do more for local businesses, not just big businesses. We need empowerment.
“If you look at me, I am young. The youth is the future; we will build the future because we are the future,’’ he said. #NITDA Cautions Facebook Users Against New Malware Attack
